population

Vocabulary and Reading Section

A. Read the following text without a dictionary, and try to get the message. Don’t worry if you don't know some of the words.

Organism of the same kind that lives together in the same habitat is called a population. In the population the organisms can interbreed and produce their own kind. For example, all the grasshoppers in the garden will make a population. They stay in the garden which is their habitat and can interbreed and produce within their population. The ants, spiders and butterflies also make their own population in the garden. Here in the garden, within their population, they will breed and reproduce new ones. A population of a certain organism may decrease or increase in size. If the environmental resistance is low, the population will increase in its size. For example, rabbits in Australia were brought in by British immigrants. When they were first introduced to Australia, the population of rabbits in Australia multiplied in size because there were no natural predators of rabbits in Australia. However, if the environmental resistance is high, a population will decrease in size. For example, the panda that lives in China only feeds on one special kind of bamboo. The size of the population is kept constant by the constant amount of this bamboo in their habitat. However, the panda population has decreased drastically and now they face extinction because of the shortage of this bamboo as their food. More and more land from their habitat is being cut down for agriculture purposes.

Now, answer the following questions based on the text you have read.

1. What is a population?
2. What populations live in the garden?
3. Why does a population decrease?
4. Why did the population of rabbits increase in Australia?
5. What does:

o ‘their’ in line 2 refer to?

o ‘they’ in line 4 refer to?

o ‘new ones’ in line 7 refer to?

o ‘they’ in line 10 refer to?

o ‘this’ in line 16 refer to?

Grammar Review

What kind of English tense is used in the following sentences?

1. All the grasshoppers in the garden will make a population.
2. The ants, spiders and butterflies also make their own population in the garden.
3. The population of rabbits in Australia multiplied in size.
4. The panda population has decreased drastically.
5. People are cutting down the land for agricultural purposes.

Writing Section

Make one sentence for each of the following words.

1. population (noun)
2. habitat (noun)
3. breed (verb)
4. environmental (adjective)
5. natural (adjective)

Translation Section

Translate the following story.

Several men were sitting around bragging about how smart their dogs are.

“My dog is so smart,” said the first one, “that I can send him out to the store for eggs. He sniffs around the boxes and refuses to accept any boxes unless they are fresh.”

“My dog is so smart,” said the second man, “that he goes out for cigars, and he always comes home with my favorite brand.”

The two men turned to a third man who had been sitting quietly. “Have you ever heard of any dog that is as smart as ours?” asked the first man.

“Well, only one dog. Mine.”

“How is that?”

“My dog runs the store where your dogs go shopping.”